Raymond Jaffe, the protagonist, steps into the hallway outside his New York City apartment. He finds his friend Andre waiting for him. Raymond is struck by the dullness of light coming through the exterior windows—“it only looked dank and muted” (1). Going back inside, Raymond asks his stepfather, Ed, for lunch money and receives a thrown-together sack lunch instead.

As the boys descend the stairs on their way to school, they see an elderly woman standing in the second-floor hallway. Hearing them, she calls: “Do you know Luis Velez? […] Have you seen him?” (7). Raymond replies that he does not know Luis. As they walk, Raymond and Andre discuss the woman, particularly struck by the odd expression on her face.

This is Andre’s final day before moving to California. Walking home, Raymond cannot express how much he will miss him. After they part, Raymond crawls into an abandoned building where he feeds a stray cat he has befriended.

Climbing the apartment stairs, Raymond encounters the woman in the hallway. He stops to talk, apologizing for leaving so hastily in the morning. The woman remembers his name. Raymond realizes she has poor vision. She explains that her caregiver, Luis, has stopped coming to see her without explanation.